<p>We'll be picking up a kid at Concordia Language Village this summer and thought we'd take his rising junior sister to visit some colleges in the Minneapolis St. Paul area and Wisconsin on our way home. Unfortunately, we wouldn't be in the area until the end of July. Is it worth visiting small LAC in the middle of summer? If we do make these visits, how many should we see in a day and when should we contact the admissions offices? Most of these schools would be matches or safeties for D1 so we would like her to see them but we'd rather not make the very long drive at another time. What advice can you give us?</p>
<p>If you are in the area anyway, visiting in the summer is probably better than not visiting at all. If at the end she will have a choice that includes these schools, she can always re-visit…</p>
<p>IMO a summer visit is not ideal, but it’s better than no visit at all.</p>
<p>Even though you can’t get a feel for the student body during the summer, there is still a lot to find out on a campus tour. You hear the same info session (which tells you a lot about the school’s offerings, admissions standards and philosophy.) You get a feel for the campus and its layout and location. And you can still see the dorms.</p>
<p>We were able to both eliminate some campuses and determine we were interested in others based on summer visits.</p>
<p>Once we narrowed down the list, we came back to the campuses D was interested in to do interviews or auditions. She was at an advantage during those interviews because she knew the campus and had the chance to ask specific questions becasue she was already familiar with the school.</p>
<p>I think the visits are worth it, even in the summer. There are usually students working in the admissions offices over the summer. Kids learn a lot by visiting a wide variety of schools. I think it’s always worth it to sit in on the info session and to take the tour, if you have time. Even if your kid does not apply, the info sessions are usually a good overview for how to put together a good application.</p>
<p>We did a lot of traveling over the summer for other reasons and chose to do college visits while traveling. It definitely helped modify the “potential apply” list for our son. He definitely ruled a few colleges out from these visits and definitely reaffirmed his interest in some others. </p>
<p>The winter visits were much more telling and meaningful, however, there was value to the summer visits.</p>
<p>We did one college over a summer visit - and honestly, it was more of a “let’s see what a college tour is like” baked into a vacation - and we wound up very impressed by the school (Lawrence University in Appleton, WI). I would say there is definite value to it. I always find the tours the most valuable, anyway.</p>
<p>We did a lot of summer visits, mostly because they were much easier to fit into D1’s schedule. You can learn a lot about a school with a summer visit. We’ll be doing some late summer visits with D2 after dropping off D1 at the LAC where she’ll be starting in the fall—a school D1 first visited during the summer before her junior year, then revisited during spring break of her junior year when the college was in session. The second visit confirmed it was her #1 choice, so she applied ED and was accepted. That school might never have made it onto her radar screen had it not been for the initial summer visit.</p>
<p>I agree with making summer visits, because it’s better than nothing. We did the local schools during the summer, knowing that if the kids got in, we could get back more easily during the school year if accepted. We visited the schools in flying distance during the school year, so we could see them in action.</p>
<p>if you are visiting anyway, do make it an official visit to show interest and allow yourself and your D to get more of an insight.</p>
<p>Agree w/all above. All of our family visits were in the summer because of schedules, and we found it fun, unhurried and helpful. He has/will fly back to 2-3 on his own during the school year to “be sure.”</p>
<p>I agree that a summer visit is NOT ideal. I really like to get a feel for the energy of a campus, the study body, etc. That is the most important part of a tour for me, not the admissions stats and philosophy that I can find online.</p>
<p>HOWEVER - visiting in the summer is better than not visiting at all. I think there are still some valuable things that can be gleaned…talking to students who work in admissions, to tour guides, etc. Seeing what other students are on your tour (if it is large) are like, and being able to make a judgement about what the kind of kids interested in the school. Checking out the facilities (esp. important for engineering majors, performance majors, broadcast or production majors, you get the idea). Getting a feel for the campus. Getting a feel for the surrounding town or nearby cities (this one is super important and can totally be done in the summer, though you have to take it with a grain of salt, since many close-to-campus establishments may be closed or have limited hours during the summer). </p>
<p>So, yes, do it :).</p>
<p>One of the cool things about summer college visits is that you have a better chance of seeing what the dorms look like, which might not happen in the middle of a school year. When we did this trip in summer of 2006, a number of the colleges/universities had summer classes going on.</p>
<p>We drove from L.A. up to Portland and visited every UC (other than San Diego, since we’d already made that visit) and Cal States along the way, and most of the Oregon colleges. It was the dad and the lad and the mom – each of us taking written notes of pros, cons, questions, then comparing them. From there, our son created a list of choices.</p>
<p>Once our son had his list of acceptances, he picked the ones he wanted to return to for a second Spring visit before deciding. So, for him, it was really useful.</p>
<p>I think it is best to schedule at the end of summer, when school starts, and you will get an idea of the welcome atmosphere, parties and activities for the entering freshmen.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the kid. My kids are very intuitive and just get “vibes”. For them, the summer visits told them just as much as those when the schools were in session, don’t ask me how.</p>
<p>One thing my S did like was that when we looked at schools (Vassar) for my D the fall of her senior year when he was a sophomore, the young women were eyeing him appreciatively and thought he was either in school already or the prospective student. Of course my D, who hated looking so young, was miffed, but my S, who did have facial hair to lend him a venerable appearance, enjoyed himself immensely. For a long time Vassar remained his #1, but in the end it wasn’t.</p>
<p>UCLA is right about getting to view the dorms in the summer. Plus you usually get to see more than one type of room. My son enjoyed the summer visits and getting a tee shirt from each one. He got to get his first interview out of the way and that eased the stress for the future ones. The only thing that annoyed him was the middle school cheerleader camps that seemed to be going on no matter where we went.</p>
<p>I live in Minnesota so let me know if you need any help planning your trip.</p>
<p>Summer is better than not at al, but, in addition to missing seeing what the kids look like, if you are not from an area with similar weather, you need to keep in mind that northern climes are at their best in Summer and southern at their worst.</p>
<p>We visited with our DD all schools during August prior to application process. There were lots of applicant visiting during that time. It actually gave the true picture of the town when the classes are not in session.
Princeton, Yale, and Brown were more or less completely deserted with only touring applicants.
Columbia was lively but U.Penn was scary.
One of the reason DD became so attached to Cambridge/Boston is the liveliness of the town during August where as all other campuses were more or less deserted.</p>
<p>If you are just starting your search, you can get a good idea of some the general characteristics your S/D is most comfortable with: school size, whether they prefer urban/rural, etc.</p>
<p>I suggest looking into whether interviews are offered/encouraged at the schools you’re thinking about. Since your d will be a rising junior, she might not be offered an interview this summer; if that’s the case, you’d probably want to wait until next year to visit those particular LACs. One of my youngest d’s favorite schools was Muhlenberg, where candidates for merit aid are required to do an interview. We didn’t realize that the first time we visited, and so returned for an interview (and a nice second visit). At W & M, rising seniors are offered evaluative interviews during the summer only; that’s a compelling reason for a summertime visit.</p>
<p>We divided our campus visits between summer and school breaks. Touring during a school day does tell you more; the trade-off can be that summer visits might be less nerve-wracking from the perspective of trip planning.</p>